I Married My Ex's Billionaire Father-Chapter 310: Are You Jealous

"Wait." Levi looked at her. "Are you jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous?" She snapped and crossed her arms. "I’m just your ex, I can’t have an opinion."

Levi stared at her for a long second. seeing that he would not stop looking at her, Lyse turned to the window, letting him look at her back.

When he chuckled she turned back to him and glared at him.

"I am funny to you now, right?"

"No." Levi hurried to explain. "I am not laughing at you."

When Lyse did not turn around he continued in a softer voice.

"I did not want you to slap her because we were out in public and a courthouse was a throw away."

Levi reached out and held her hands, waiting to see if she would pull away and when she did not he raised her hand to his lips and kissed them one after the other.

"I did not want you arrested. Next time, slap them where there were no security camers."

She was in disbelief at what Levi was saying.

"Don’t you know that i am ready to support you on whatever you want to do." He asked her, her eyes earnest.

Lyse shivered at the intensity in his eyes, Levi looked like he would eat her up.

Levi’s thumb brushed lightly over her knuckles after he kissed them, his grip warm, steady.

Lyse’s breath caught.

There was something dangerous about the way he was looking at her.

Not wild.

Not reckless.

Focused.

"Don’t you know that I am ready to support you in whatever you want to do?" he asked quietly.

His voice had dropped, not playful now, not teasing.

Serious.

Lyse swallowed.

The inside of the car suddenly felt too small. The air hummed with leftover adrenaline from the confrontation inside.

"I don’t need you to support my violence," she said, trying to regain her footing. "I can handle myself."

"I know you can," Levi replied immediately.

That wasn’t flattery.

That was fact.

He had always known.

That was part of the problem.

Lyse tried to pull her hands back, but he tightened his grip, not forceful, just firm enough to ask her to stay.

"Look at me."

She hesitated.

Then she did.

His jaw was tense, eyes darker than usual. The teasing amusement from earlier had faded into something heavier.

"You think I didn’t notice?" he asked quietly.

"Notice what?"

"The way your hands were shaking after she grabbed my arm."

Lyse stiffened.

"I was angry."

"You were hurt."

Her chin lifted. "Don’t."

"Lyse..."

"Don’t psychoanalyze me."

He exhaled slowly, as if choosing his next words carefully.

"You don’t get jealous," he said. "You get territorial when you think someone is disrespecting you."

She opened her mouth to argue, then stopped.

Because that was too close to the truth.

The woman inside the restaurant hadn’t embarrassed her.

She had disrespected her.

There was a difference.

"And you don’t get to act like you’re detached," Levi continued, stepping closer. "You came back into my life. You said you wanted space. You said we were done. But you still look at me like I belong to you."

Lyse’s pulse skipped.

The wind caught a loose strand of her hair, whipping it across her cheek. Levi reached out instinctively and tucked it behind her ear.

The intimacy of the gesture made her chest tighten.

"I don’t own you," she said, quieter now.

"You don’t have to," he replied.

Silence stretched between them.

The city noise faded into a distant blur.

"You think I don’t know what she was trying to do?" Levi asked.

Lyse frowned. "What?"

"She wanted to provoke you."

"And?"

"And you let her."

Her spine straightened.

"I don’t regret it."

"I know."

That soft, almost approving note in his voice unsettled her.

"I just regret that you almost got arrested for it."

She blinked at him.

"You’re serious about that camera comment?"

His mouth curved slightly.

"Very."

Lyse stared at him, trying to decide whether he was joking.

He wasn’t.

That was what made it worse.

"You’re insane."

"No," he corrected calmly. "I just don’t want anyone else controlling the narrative of you."

Her breath stalled.

That wasn’t what she expected.

"You think I care what people think?"

"I know you don’t," he said. "But I do."

She faltered.

Levi sat closer again, closing the distance between them. Close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from him. Close enough that she could see the faint scar near his eyebrow, the one he got the year they broke up.

"You are not the villain in anyone’s story," he said quietly. "And I won’t let someone paint you that way."

Lyse’s throat tightened.

He had always done this.

Protected her in ways she didn’t ask for.

Supported her in ways she didn’t understand until later.

"That woman," she said slowly, "looked very confident."

"She was trying to be."

"Trying?"

Levi’s jaw hardened.

"She thought proximity would make her relevant."

Lyse studied him.

"You didn’t deny her immediately."

"I was in shock," he said bluntly. "She grabbed me out of nowhere."

She narrowed her eyes. "That’s not how it looked."

"I know."

He didn’t argue.

He didn’t defend himself with excuses.

He just acknowledged it.

That disarmed her more than any denial would have.

"I don’t date chaos," he said finally. "You know that."

Lyse’s lips twitched despite herself.

"That’s rich."

"You’re not chaos."

"I almost slapped a woman in public."

"You were provoked."

"That’s not a defense."

"It is when you’re right."

She stared at him again.

He wasn’t smiling.

He wasn’t teasing.

He meant every word.

"Why are you like this?" she asked softly.

"Like what?"

"Unbothered by things that should bother you."

He studied her for a moment before answering.

"Because I already lost you once."

Her breath caught.

The words hung between them... heavy, real.

"And I’m not losing you again over someone who doesn’t matter."

Her heart pounded harder now, but for a different reason.

"You assume you have me to lose."

Levi’s hand slid from hers to her wrist, his thumb brushing over her pulse point.

"You came with me today."

"That doesn’t mean anything."

"You didn’t have to."

She didn’t.

But she had.

Because despite everything, the breakup, the anger, the pride, she still loved to be with him.

And that terrified her.

"Are you going to keep pretending this doesn’t mean anything?" he asked quietly.

Lyse looked away first this time.

She hated how exposed she felt under his gaze.

"I don’t want to fight for you again," she said finally. "I don’t want to wonder if someone else thinks they have a claim."

"No one has a claim," he said firmly.

"And yet she thought she did."

"She thought she could intimidate you."

Lyse scoffed.

"That’s laughable."

"I know."

He stepped even closer now. So close that if she leaned forward just slightly, she would be against him.

"She underestimated you," he murmured.

"And you?"

"I never have."

The intensity in his eyes made her shiver.

He wasn’t looking at her like a man amused by jealousy.

He was looking at her like something precious.

Or something he intended to keep.

"You’re dangerous when you care," he said softly.

Lyse’s brows furrowed.

"What does that mean?"

"It means you don’t do things halfway."

"And that scares you?"

"No," he said, voice low. "It makes me want to match you."

Her pulse fluttered wildly.

"That sounds like a challenge."

"It is."

The air between them thickened.

He lifted her hand again, slower this time, pressing his lips to her knuckles, not playful now. Intentional.

Lyse’s breath hitched.

"You don’t get to claim indifference," he said quietly. "Not when you looked ready to burn the restaurant down over me."

She opened her mouth to deny it, but the memory flashed too clearly.

The fury.

The possessiveness.

The humiliation.

She exhaled slowly.

"You shouldn’t want someone who reacts like that."

"I do."

There was no hesitation.

No shame.

Just certainty.

"And next time," he added softly, "I’ll make sure no one gets close enough to test you."

Lyse searched his face.

"You’re not going to start fighting women over me."

He almost smiled.

"I don’t need to."

"Why?"

"Because they’ll know."

"Know what?"

"That I chose you."

The words landed somewhere deep inside her.

Chosen.

Not tolerated.

Not convenient.

Chosen.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

The tension had shifted.

It wasn’t about the woman anymore.

It wasn’t about jealousy.

It was about something far more dangerous.

Commitment.

Lyse slowly pulled her hand back this time and he let her.

But his eyes never left hers.

"You’re very confident," she said quietly.

"I am."

"And if I walk away?"

Levi held her gaze steadily.

"Then I’ll let you."

Her heart twisted.

"You won’t chase me?"

"I already did once," he said calmly. "This time, you either stay because you want to... or you don’t."

The honesty in that shook her more than possessiveness would have.

He wasn’t trapping her.

He was offering her choice.

And somehow that felt heavier.

Lyse inhaled deeply.

"I’m not promising anything," she said.

"I’m not asking for promises."

"Then what are you asking for?"

He stepped back just enough to give her space, but not distance.

"Honesty."